June 27, 2006
01:00 PM (EDT)

News Release Number: STScI-2006-25

Hubble Reveals Two Dust Disks Around Nearby Star Beta Pictoris

June 27, 2006: Detailed images of the nearby star Beta Pictoris, taken by NASA's Hubble
Space Telescope, confirm the existence of not one but two dust disks
encircling the star. The images offer tantalizing new evidence for at
least one Jupiter-size planet orbiting Beta Pictoris.

The finding ends a decade of scientific speculation that an odd warp in the young
star's debris disk may actually be another inclined disk. The recent
Hubble Advanced Camera for Surveys view – the best visible-light image
of Beta Pictoris – clearly shows a distinct secondary disk that is
tilted by about 4 degrees from the main disk. The secondary disk is
visible out to roughly 24 billion miles from the star, and probably
extends even farther, said astronomers. This Hubble image of Beta
Pictoris clearly shows a primary dust disk and a much fainter secondary
dust disk. Astronomers used the Advanced Camera’s coronagraph to block
out the light from the bright star.